A word from the sponsors

Zero Exclusion is born out of a sustainable partnership between two Finnish companies: Neste and Mantsinen. The companies teamed up with Hope and Albright-Knox to make an impact. Here is the story through their eyes.

Mia Mantsinen, CEO, Mantsinen:

”The founders of our company are farmers from modest upbringing. Supporting children from low-income families is something we feel strongly about, partly due to the humble backgrounds of our families. Each and every one should have a chance to make progress in their lives, even if the starting point wasn’t the perfect one. That is why we want to do our share in showing that anyone can achieve anything, if only they are given a chance. When you have received help on your journey yourself, you want to give it to others. Us, we wouldn’t be where we are without the help from numerous people, all along our path.”

“Instead of thinking why should we do this, why wouldn’t we? We have tried emphasizing in every project that we want to do something concrete, something that changes things. Neste is the 3rd most sustainable company in the world and we believe that not all aspects of sustainability have received enough attention. Sustainability is not just about climate actions — it’s also about people. I think especially young people are the ones that can make the difference. We are happy that the project was done with Neste MY Renewable Diesel. We also want to thank our partner Teknos for creating a renewable coating for the project with Neste MY Isoalkane which enabled us make art with it for the first time in the world.”

Heidi Peltonen, Manager, Sustainable Partnerships, Neste:

“We believe it takes more than one to change things. That is why from the very first time we discussed this in 2018, we both wanted to create something that would have as concrete impact as possible. Spending time with the talented young artists and seeing how the project has empowered them is definitely something that I will never forget. I really hope that this will also encourage other companies to embrace a more sustainable future, together.”

Mari Riissanen, Marketing Coordinator, Mantsinen:

“We had an amazing team of different kind of companies and people working together towards a common, important goal – with an idea that may be the craziest in a while. The world’s largest harbour crane transforming into a paintbrush and young teens painting art with a short training. Many people wouldn’t have believed in making it happen. The young artists proved us that when you have enough faith and confidence in what you do, you have the strength to accomplish almost anything. I wish that every young teen had someone who supports, stands by their side and believes in them.”

Eric Jones, Art Coach, Albright-Knox Art Gallery:

“Artists have always been looking at how to reconstruct the box. Using innovative ways and means to get a message across, in a way that no one has ever done before. Otherwise were repeating the same story over and over again. To be able to utilize a big machine to express these really big feelings of contentment and hope – I feel those words of our teens are bigger with the massive machine than what they are actually able to express themselves.

Also, it’s a huge confidence boost for them, the young artists. Sitting there in that cockpit, there’s a surge of adrenalin that you can see in the paintings. Something you could not do in a studio. Going from machine made marks to human mark making, the artists really tailored each painting down to a very personal level. It’s like an upside-down pyramid: people understand the overarching story of the collection, but when they look at each different piece of artwork, they see smaller stories, with different words, mark making, colours, and content.

I feel the teens took a lot of inspiration from what they were producing. I have no doubt that they will continue to look back upon this experience, as something way more meaningful than they could’ve ever imagined when they first got in that cockpit and put on that hard hat.

I’m super proud of them.”

Our partners helping with the project

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